FLORIDA CHAIN BRINGING CARIBBEAN FLAVOR HERE;POLLO TROPICAL SET TO OPEN IN FORMER SHONEY'S LOCATIONS

Pollo Tropical Inc., a Florida-based quick-service restaurant chain with a Caribbean flavor, will enter the Chicago market in December, when it opens two of three planned area restaurants.

The fast-growing chain is often compared to Boston Market, which merges fast food and casual dining. Pollo Tropical's menu, however, offers more exotic fare, such as fried plantain and french fries made from yucca root.

Its three locations are among 24 former Shoney's restaurants that are providing expansion opportunities for growing chains and independent restaurateurs. The Shoney's restaurants were sold or leased as part of the bankruptcy of Chicago-based franchisee Lunan Family Restaurants.

Publicly traded Pollo Tropical, which was started in 1988, has 40 restaurants in Florida and Georgia. About half its sales are takeout, and many of those are handled at the drive-through window.

Some analysts question whether the Caribbean menu-which also features black beans and white rice-will play well outside the tropics. Marketing Director Debla Cabezas points out that there are traditional offerings as well: regular french fries, Caesar salad and corn.

Meanwhile, International House of Pancakes (IHOP) has bought 10 former Shoney's sites and is boosting its area restaurant count to 24.

John Baird, senior regional manager of real estate for the Glendale, Calif.-based chain, said IHOP hasn't had a strong presence in Chicago, but plans to open four to six locations a year.

"Chicago is an expensive and competitive market, and we've been cautious," says Mr. Baird, who envisions as many as 40 IHOP locations in the Chicago area.

The publicly traded company has 600 restaurants nationwide, most of them franchised.

Many of the remaining dozen Shoney's locations were sold to independent restaurant operators.

The units-onetime Wag's Restaurants-were built by Walgreen Co. and later operated by Marriott Corp. Marriott sold the Chicago-area restaurants to Lunan, which converted them to Shoney's.

But the restaurants faltered, and the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection a year ago.

Steven H. Rubin, president of RCS Realty Resources in Northfield, one of two brokers in the Shoney's sales and leases, pegged the combined value of the transactions at more than $30 million.

The sale and lease arrangements actually generated about $10.8 million in cash, of which $7.6 million was used to pay the primary secured creditor, Bank of America. Mr. Rubin and his partner lined up subleases worth another $2 million for Shoney's locations that had been taken back by Marriott Corp.

The bankruptcy case, which involves a liquidation of the franchised locations, is in its final stages, with three restaurants left to be sold or leased.